Staff

Alice Powell

As PWYP’s Communication Assistant Alice’s responsibilities include updating and creating content for the website, as well as writing PWYP’s fortnightly email update and being behind PWYP’s social media presence.

Alice holds an MSC in Comparative European Politics from Trinity College Dublin and a BA in History from Cambridge. Before joining PWYP – originally as an intern – Alice worked at Global Policy Forum, New York, writing newsletters and coordinating meetings between the NGO Working Group on the Security Council and the UN Security Council ambassadors.

Each PWYP national coalition has a coordinator or focal point based in-country. These posts can be part or full-time positions, funded and managed by members of the respective national coalition, as well as other international and/or national partners. They are appointed according to each national coalition’s own independent governance procedures.

For more information visit the ‘Where we work’ section of the website.

Joseph Williams

Joseph Williams is PWYP’s Senior Advocacy and Communications Officer. As such, Joseph coordinates and implements our advocacy agenda and campaign plans. He is also responsible for managing communications and information resources for the PWYP international coalition.

Prior to joining PWYP in January 2009, he worked as a research assistant with the International Crisis Group on its Central Africa Project and then moved to China where he was writing for London-based newspaper Africa-Asia Confidential on relations between China and Africa.

Sophia Harding

Sophia Harding joined PWYP as Programme Officer in May 2010. Her responsibilities entail coalition building and outreach, support to national coalitions, and capacity-building for members and PWYP’s members in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Asia-Pacific regions. Sophia has over seven years experience on public policy-oriented research, campaigns and communications within the international development sector. Much of her previous experience is grounded within Asia.

Carlo Merla

Carlo joined the PWYP team in October 2010. Carlo’s main role is facilitate the PWYP campaign throughout the continent, with a focus on six main areas: developing a common PWYP Africa strategy; promoting regional and sub-regional advocacy initiatives; defining and implementing a security strategy for Africa campaigners; ensuring effective communication between national coalitions; reinforcing PWYP Africa regional governance; developing capacities and providing support to national coalitions and members.

Marinke van Riet

Marinke van Riet is PWYP’s International Director. Marinke joined PWYP in August 2011 and previously worked at Marie Stopes International where she was Regional Advisor/Country Director in Waiting for the past 2 years. Prior to that, she spent 4 years as the CEO of the International Forum for Rural Transport and Development, a global policy advocacy network of 30 national networks and 4000 individual members in the private, public and NGO sectors advocating for pro-poor transport sector policies.